Trenton - The Department of Health and Senior Services today released a comprehensive report detailing vital statistics and population health status indicators for the year 1998. The report is available in bound form or via the department's website at www.state.nj.us/health/.

"The vital statistic report is a valuable resource for the department in its efforts to track trends in health outcomes and plan for the next decade's public health goals," said Health and Senior Services Commissioner Christine Grant. "While we use the report as a planning tool, it is also a valuable resource for health care providers, educators, researchers, consumer advocacy groups and grass roots organizations."

The report includes statistics on births, deaths, marriages, divorces, and illness. It also contains updates to the Healthy New Jersey 2000 report. The Healthy New Jersey 2000 report was published in 1991 as a set of goals for preventing disease and improving the health of New Jersey residents through the 1990's.

The report includes a number of new features, including reporting for the first time birth data for all 53 municipalities with a population over 35,000. An additional feature of the report is the presentation of births, infant deaths, and fetal deaths for race and ethnicity groups consistent with Healthy New Jersey 2010. It is also the first time that separate birth, infant death and fetal death data has been shown for Asians and Pacific Islanders.

Other highlights in the report include:

The average life expectancy at birth for New Jerseyans born between 1996 and 1998 was 77.2 years.

In 1998, more than half of mothers delivering a child was 30 years of age or older.

For the first year since it became a separate, identifiable cause of death, HIV infection was not among the ten leading causes of death in New Jersey.

The number of HIV deaths in 1998 was 70 percent lower than in 1995 when the number of deaths peaked.

To request a copy of the report, send written requests to the Center for Health Statistics, PO Box 360, Trenton, NJ 08625-0360 or email inquiries to
Email address protected by JavaScript.. Additional reports available from the Center for Health Statistics include Healthy New Jersey 2010, the 1998 county health status profiles, and municipality-level birth and death data.